For more than 30 years, I and a number of my Cato colleagues have been travelling to Argentina, where we have participated in countless meetings, media appearances, and public events organized by local think tanks or Cato itself. We have been close observers of what may be the most politically erratic country in the most politically erratic region of the world, and we’ve been active participants in its public policy debates and in Argentina’s classical‐liberal movement. Prominent Argentine thinkers such as Alberto Benegas Lynch, Jr., whom President Javier Milei cites as his intellectual mentor, and Martin Krause, are long‐time Cato adjunct scholars. (See this essay by Daniel Raisbeck on the history of Argentina’s classical liberal tradition—the longest and richest in Latin America—and how it has influenced the current political moment.)
Javier Milei’s rise to the presidency on a mandate to implement a classical‐liberal paradigm shift and revive the tradition that made Argentina one of the richest countries in the world a century ago offers us a significant opportunity to promote the ideas of liberty. That’s why we are pleased to cosponsor a major conference in Buenos Aires on June 11–12 with Argentine think tank Libertad y Progreso: “The Rebirth of Liberty in Argentina and Beyond.”
President Milei and leading liberals from around the world will come together to discuss specific policy reforms to limit power and expand individual liberty. Speakers will also discuss the record of classical liberalism and its grand narrative of unprecedented progress across the whole range of human well‐being indicators.
Argentina is a cautionary tale for the United States and other rich countries because of its fall in the 20th century from prosperity to poverty as it abandoned liberalism. Elsewhere, we have discussed the political sea change that Milei’s rise promises (see here, here, here, here, and here, for example). But at a time when so many countries around the world are moving away from liberal democracy or strengthening authoritarianism, the importance and relevance of Argentina’s reform efforts extend beyond that country and even Latin America.
We hope you can join us in Buenos Aires for what we think will be a timely and stimulating event. For more on the conference and how to register, see here.